Two-Cheese Penne with Chicken and Spinach

7 Reviews
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Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Claire Spollen
Yield
Serves 4 (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)
By Mary Drennen
December 2014
RECIPE BY Cooking Light

To balance out the meal, serve this rich and saucy pasta alongside a crisp romaine salad with bright acidic dressing.

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces uncooked quick-cooking penne (such as Ronzoni)
  • Cooking spray
  • 12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken cutlets
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 7 ounces fresh spinach
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 ounces fresh pecorino Romano cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup)
  • 2 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (about 1/4 cup)

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 436
  • Fat 13.5g
  • Satfat 5.1g
  • Monofat 3.9g
  • Polyfat 0.9g
  • Protein 33g
  • Carbohydrate 46g
  • Fiber 3g
  • Cholesterol 75mg
  • Iron 4mg
  • Sodium 526mg
  • Calcium 236mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup pasta cooking water.

Step 2

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or just until done. Remove chicken from pan; thinly slice across grain.

Step 3

Return pan to medium heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add spinach, red pepper, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until spinach wilts. Add cooked pasta, reserved pasta cooking water, chicken, lemon juice, and cheeses to pan; toss to coat. Cook 1 minute or until cheeses melt. Serve immediately.

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Ratings & Reviews

steponme's Review

MashikasPassion
December 31, 2014
Kind of bland and the sauce was a little too thick. Used chicken broth in place of the pasta water, added a little more liquid and salt. With those modifications, it was a good, quick week night meal.

Violanne's Review

sprky182
January 25, 2015
Very good, a little spicy- used broccoli instead of spinach. Will add a little more water next time.

YUM

steponme
October 09, 2017
Easy, creamy, and delicious. I didn't alter the recipe at all, but saw some had substituted brocollini and I think that would be incredible.  

comfy food....

yasmincooking
March 16, 2018
this was really tasty!  added a little sautéed onion, used parmesan over romano, and 1/2 container of chive onion creamed cheese.    a quick meal.  kale would work in place of spinach. can't wait for the leftovers!

Lisajane's Review

stellacorona
January 21, 2015
This was very good and simple to pull together. I made a vegetarian version using Gardein Chik'n. I found that it needed more pasta water than called for. I doubled the amount and the consistency was perfect. I also added about 1/2 tsp of salt.

yasmincooking's Review

Jessica
December 04, 2014
delish!! will make again ............................

More salt

Violanne
July 02, 2015
Pretty good, I added a little more salt. I like mine cheesy, so I added about 1/4 cup extra romano. I did use almost double the water the recipe called for and it was still pretty thick.

Made with chicken sausage

Lisajane
September 17, 2015
I know everyone hates when people rate recipes that they changed, but I had to post because this recipe is amazing with chicken sausage. I used chipotle chicken sausage and added a little more pasta water than called for. Otherwise I followed the directions as written. The calories came out to the same. It was flavorful, creamy, and tastes like its bad for you!
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